As search teams raced against time, the world watched in suspense. When the truth emerged days later, it sent shockwaves across the globe: Titan had suffered a catastrophic implosion, instantly killing all five people on board.
But how could a mission to explore the Titanic, a voyage that had been done before, go so horribly wrong? Let’s dive (pun intended) into the story, separating fiction from fact, examining the engineering, decisions, and delays that led to one of the most troubling maritime tragedies of the 21st century.
Who is OceanGate?
OceanGate was founded in 2009 by engineer and entrepreneur Stockton Rush. Rush envisioned a future where deep-sea exploration was accessible, not just to scientists, but to civilians as well. The company operated submersibles for research, media production, and private missions, with Titan being their most ambitious project.
Unlike traditional sub designs made of steel or titanium, Titan was built with a carbon fiber composite hull, titanium end caps, and off-the-shelf fixtures from camping stores. Furthermore, the sub's controls came courtesy of a $30 Logitech Bluetooth game controller.
At some point, safety is just pure waste
These unorthodox manufacturing decisions allowed Titan to be lighter than conventional submersibles, but more importantly for OceanGate, cheaper. These engineering decisions drew scrutiny from marine engineers who raised concerns about its ability to withstand repeated deep-sea pressure cycles over many dives.
How many successful dives did Titan make to the Titanic?
Before its fatal final dive, Titan had made approximately 13 successful dives to the Titanic wreck, located about 3,800 meters (12,467 feet) below the surface in the North Atlantic. These dives were part of OceanGate Expeditions' ongoing efforts to document the wreck's condition and offer wealthy tourists a chance to witness it firsthand. Each mission came with risks, yet the company's growing confidence in Titan's performance may have created a complacent and dangerous illusion of safety. Rush had a cavalier attitude to regulation and safety, arrogantly stating, "At some point, safety is just pure waste".
How did life support work on Titan?
Titan carried a life support system designed to last up to 96 hours, including:
- Oxygen cylinders
- Carbon dioxide scrubbers, made from a storage box and a computer chassis fan
- A fan system to circulate air
These systems depended on uninterrupted power and internal environmental stability. But in the case of an implosion, life support was irrelevant. The entire sub was destroyed in milliseconds, a scenario that no amount of life-saving gear could address.
Titan's fateful dive
On the morning of June 18, 2023, the Titan submersible began what would be its final descent into the Atlantic, en route to the wreck of HMS Titanic. Launched from the support vessel Polar Prince, about 400 nautical miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, the dive was crewed by 5:
- Stockton Rush - CEO of OceanGate and pilot of the sub
- Hamish Harding - British aviation entrepreneur and explorer
- Shahzada Dawood - Pakistani-British businessman
- Suleman Dawood - Shahzada's 19-year-old son
- Paul-Henri Nargeolet - French Titanic expert and former Navy diver
The sub entered the water around 8:00 a.m. local time, bound for the wreck site nearly 3,800 meters below the surface. Approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes into the descent, Titan lost contact with the surface. Its last communication was a routine status check. There were no signs of distress or emergency signal. After that, only silence.
The sub never resurfaced, and days later, debris from the vessel was found near the Titanic's bow, confirming a catastrophic implosion had occurred shortly after that final message.
What caused the sub to implode?
The U.S. Coast Guard later confirmed what many feared, and even predicted: Titan had suffered a catastrophic implosion likely due to structural failure in its pressure hull. Deep-sea pressure at Titanic's depth exceeds 6,000 psi - enough to crush steel like it was a ball of tin foil. The failure would have been instantaneous, giving the crew no time to react or suffer.
Unlike many certified submersibles, Titan had limited internal sensors and redundancies. The sub had no escape hatch, and the crew was bolted inside by mission engineers from the outside.
There were no automatic abort systems or backup life-saving measures to deal with pressure anomalies. This is a stark contrast to other deep-diving vehicles used in scientific missions. Instead, a primitive acoustic monitoring system was fitted, which was often ignored.
Experts suspect that repeated use of the carbon fiber hull, an unusual choice for deep-sea vessels, led to fatigue over time. Unlike metal, carbon fiber can weaken through microscopic cracks and stress layering, a process known as delamination.
🌊 Read about: What causes tides?
What is delamination?
Delamination occurs when layered materials like carbon fiber begin to peel apart or separate due to stress or fatigue. In Titan's case, each descent added to the cumulative strain on its hull. Once delamination begins, it can accelerate without obvious signs until, under immense pressure, the structure catastrophically fails.
Despite the warning signs, OceanGate allegedly dismissed concerns from industry experts, choosing instead to push boundaries without third-party certification of the hull's safety.
Raising the alarm
Even though communication was lost only 1 hour and 45 minutes into the dive, formal rescue efforts didn't begin until nearly eight hours later. This raises the obvious question: why?
Titan lacked an emergency locator beacon, a basic feature in many crewed subs. Instead, it relied on sending a ping to the surface every 15 minutes. When those stopped, the support team initially believed it could be a minor communications issue. This assumption continued until it couldn't be ignored anymore, and the coastguard was contacted. That delay raised eyebrows in the submersible community, although tragically, experts believe the implosion occurred within minutes of the last ping, meaning rescue would have been impossible regardless.
The aftermath
At the time of writing, the conclusion of the inquiry has not yet been released. Many lessons have been learned, most of which need not be learned the hard way, had Rush listened to the experts. While many engineers were vocal about the risks, they were silenced, either through dismissal or threats of legal action. From regulation to dubious waivers that crew members had to sign, it could be argued that OceanGate was fully aware of the risks but chose to ignore them.
Why wasn't Titan regulated?
Here lies one of the most controversial aspects of the story. Because Titan launched from international waters and was labeled an experimental submersible, it was not subject to the same safety regulations that govern ships, planes, or even certified deep-sea submersibles.
OceanGate even publicly stated in 2019 that "bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation". That mindset, which valued innovation over regulation, may have directly contributed to the sub's fatal flaws.
The Titan tragedy stands as a chilling reminder of the unforgiving nature of the deep ocean and the limits of unregulated innovation. As deep-sea tourism becomes more accessible, questions around safety, ethics, and oversight will only grow louder. Let's hope those lives were not lost without lessons being learned.
Your thoughts and comments